Pet insurance claim

robrymond

Our cat is currently in the emergency vets and likely is all weekend which will cost around £1600. Is there any policies which allow you to purchase and make a claim straight away?

We have already paid £600 since he was admitted but the final bill will be on Monday if he is let out.

It isn't an existing medical illness but it is likely he was ran over or knocked by a car and is suffering from extreme shock and fluid leak on his lungs.

sangie595

Sorry to hear about your cat. I hope it makes a recovery.

No there aren't. The point of insurance is to have it before something happens - if it were possible to buy it when something happens nobody would ever take out insurance.

GwylimT

No it isn't. Even if you could claim straight away this would be considered pre-existing. If you do take out insurance in the future all injuries related to the accident will be considered pre-existing so future complications wouldn't be covered.

Give kitty some kisses and cuddles from me.

krlyr

Pre-existing means it happened before you took out the policy. Many policies have a 14 day exclusion period too, to stop you taking out a policy at the first sign of illness and trying to claim for it.

Also, insurance companies will assess claims - should you decide to take out a policy now and claim for any further treatment the cat needs in regards to the accident, they will likely request vet notes dating back at least 1 year, if not more, and will soon see that it's related to the incident that occured before your policy started.

Unfortunately, you've missed the boat here - but you may want to consider taking out an insurance policy anyway for any future issues (just bear in mind anything that the insurance company deem related - e.g. arthritis in the injured joints several years down the line - will be excluded), as you've now seen how costly it can be all of a sudden.

If you're struggling with funding vet treatment currently, you may wish to look into alternative forms of help - you may qualify for subsidised veterinary treatment by PDSA or similar if you're on benefits, local charities may offer funds for assistance, your vet practice may offer a payment plan, you may be able to get a 0% credit card to pay off over time, etc.

rising_from_the_ashes

Many accident and injury only policies have very short exclusion periods (0, 3 & 5 days) - but there are none that will cover after the accident has happened - as sangie595 says, no-one would bother taking it if that was the case!

Sorry this has happened - def look into having something in place for the future - even if it is a basic a&i policy, these cover £2.5k-£3k and would go a long way to resolve a lot of accident injuries (and any shortfall would be much easier to find)

robrymond

Thanks, I didn't think it was the case but I wondered (a bit like not taking breakdown cover but being given the option to have it when you do actually breakdown).

Vets bill is going to be about £2000 so lesson learnt. £600ish is saved from not having taken a policy before (average of £10 a month).

Will most likely take one out now though. He did have to fall ill on the weekend and out of hours!!!

pinkteapot

Look into policies very carefully if you do get insurance for the future. Pre-existing conditions are excluded, and this doesn't just mean diagnosed illnesses. Petplan for example exclude any symptom they've had before. You'd need to check with them - if he's in an accident again in the future (God forbid!) and has fluid on the lungs, would it be excluded?

I would phone a few for a quote (don't just do it online) and make sure you fully understand what would be excluded due to the accident he's just had.

Most importantly though, I'm glad your fuzzy one is on the mend and will be back home with you soon.

HappyMJ

robrymond wrote: »

Thanks, I didn't think it was the case but I wondered (a bit like not taking breakdown cover but being given the option to have it when you do actually breakdown).

Vets bill is going to be about £2000 so lesson learnt. £600ish is saved from not having taken a policy before (average of £10 a month).

Will most likely take one out now though. He did have to fall ill on the weekend and out of hours!!!

If you take out a policy now it's going to cost a lot more than £10/month. The risk of a further unrelated illness or accident is far too high and even if you take out insurance anything at all to do with this injury will be excluded and you have to pay anyway.

sheramber

Petplan do sometimes only exclude things for a limited time - e.g 2 years without a recurrance.

Phone and give them all the information and see what they say.

While Petplan are not he cheapest they do not increase premiums because of a claim as some other companies do

sangie595

Alternatively, if the premiums come in very high, and assuming that you can be disciplined about it, put the cost of the premium away every month in a savings account. Then if you need to pay for treatments, you can take it from your savings. And if you don't you have a nest egg put away for something in the future. The reality is that if you have an outdoor cat, there are a lot of risks out there. You can throw a lot of money at cat insurance, especially now that there had been an accident, and it may come to nothing if the cat just doesn't come home one day. I've always insured my dogs and saved up for the cats. It's worked for us.

gettingready

sangie595 wrote: »

Alternatively, if the premiums come in very high, and assuming that you can be disciplined about it, put the cost of the premium away every month in a savings account. Then if you need to pay for treatments, you can take it from your savings. And if you don't you have a nest egg put away for something in the future. The reality is that if you have an outdoor cat, there are a lot of risks out there. You can throw a lot of money at cat insurance, especially now that there had been an accident, and it may come to nothing if the cat just doesn't come home one day. I've always insured my dogs and saved up for the cats. It's worked for us.

But this is what the OP was doing so far, putting money away instead of taking up insurance.. and clearly it was not enough to cover the bill AND lots would be excluded if he takes a policy now.

OP- hoe the kitty recovers well